The Philippine government is looking into administering Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccine on Filipino senior citizens when their inoculation starts around the middle of next month, said the country’s vaccine czar on Wednesday.
This despite the previous recommendation by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration to use Sinovac jabs only on healthy individuals aged 18 to 59 years old.
“Kasi nakita natin ‘yung Sinovac, very limited po ‘yung side effect,” National COVID-19 Task Force chief implementer Sec. Carlito Galvez Jr. said. “At the same time, walang gaanong wastage ‘yung Sinovac.”
Currently, some 4 million senior citizens are in the government’s masterlist for vaccination, but Galvez said the number may eventually reach 9 million.
The Philippine government is also in talks with the Serum Institute of India to look into the possibility of producing COVID-19 vaccines locally.
“Gusto nila tulungan tayo na makapag-produce ng sarili nating bakuna,” said Galvez.
“Ang mga hakbang na ito ay bahagi ng istratehiya ng pamahalaan na magkaroon ng stable and reliable source ng anti-COVID vaccines. Iyong stratehiya po na gagawin natin with SII, disease elimination by 2022,” he added.
